My New Traveling Companion

This is Bitty Baby. She belongs to my niece, Caroline. My parents were going to join me on the Stitch n Beach cruise coming up at the end of February but cannot make it. So rather than sending me off alone, Caroline packed up Bitty with several changes of clothes, including a bathing suit, and has sent her off with me.

I'm fairly certain Bitty won't be knitting but I plan on doing a "roaming Gnome"-like travelogue, photographing Bitty and myself on the cruise and sightseeing. I have signed "us" up for excursions at each port--snorkeling near a coral reef and swimming with stingrays in Turks and Caicos, visiting the Baths in Virgin Gorda on Tortola; seeing both the French and Dutch parts of St. Maarten (trying to fit in two tours--one to a butterfly farm); visiting the historic sites, including a pirates' stronghold, and the beach on St. Thomas and a drive to the rain forest in San Juan. We're going to be very busy girls, Bitty and I.

I'm also signed up for many knitting classes on the tour--provisional cast on, slip stitches, double knitting, felting, learn to crochet, making a capelet, sea socks and basic sweater design as well as a stashbusting sweater class.

There is also a culinary center sponsored by Food and Wine magazine on the ship and I will want to take some classes there too, I'm sure.

Well, Bitty is all packed. I better get started too.

The Weapon That Did Me In

This is the hat that my assassin, dorkasaurus, sent to me. I had been having a sleep study and it just wasn't working for me so I left the sleep clinic at around 2:30 AM and when I arrived home, found the hat from Hat Attack in my mailbox. What a way to go.

Hat Attack!

What did you do this weekend? I'm signed up for Hat Attack, a take off on the Sock Wars game where you knit a hat as fast as you can and mail it off to your "target". If you get a hat from an "assassin", you are "dead" and need to send your WIP to the assassin who presumably finishes it and sends it to your target. I used Noro Kureyon to knit up mine--I got gauge before I started knitting but it looks small to me but maybe I'm comparing this against my own big head. I'm mailing this off to Irish99 in Indiana this morning and will be nervously checking the mailbox later in case dorkasaurus, my assassin, finished her hat on Saturday--it was amazing how many knitters finished their hats and mailed them the same day. BTW, that's Lucy inspecting my finished product.

Inauguration Day Scarf-Along

What a great idea! I'm repurposing the entrelac scarf I started with Noro Silk Garden because I don't like how the "wrong" side of it looks--it would be fine for a sweater, hat or bag but definitely not for a scarf when you can't control which side gets seen. I got the idea for the new pattern--a 1x1 rib knit with two different skeins at one time, 2 rows at a time, from brooklyntweed's blog. Rib knitting gets tedious after a while so a year-long knitting project will be ideal for this.

Another FO for a Darling Little Lady

This is Lucianne--she'd 4-1/2 months old and the cutest little thing. She's wearing a merino hoodie with the zipper down the back--my mother gave me the pattern and said that the mothers of babies love the design because it's easy to get it on and off the baby. Luci has been tooling around Europe in hers!

FO for a Young Friend

I don't remember who the yarn is from but it's a worsted merino knitted with a mock cable. See how the blue matches this charming fellow's eyes?

Unfocused But Happy

I think it's well established that I tend to bounce from one project to the other without finishing any one thing. This week's projects are Lace Latte from Summer 2007 Knitting Universe--I'm making it in Elsebeth Lavold's Cable Cotton in color 09--it's a goldish hue. I apparently skipped the swatch process (I don't recall making that decision) because when I finished the lace edging the first time, it was incredibly enormous. I could have joined it and knit it in the round. So I frogged and restarted on #5 needles which are two sizes down from the pattern recommendation. I like the edging and now it's just a 3 X 3 rib so I can take the project on the bus and train with little difficulty although I do have to figure out the decrease to take it from 2X on the bottom to 1X toward the top of the piece. The pattern is by Norah Gaughan and is designed with an open front that is laced closed. I'm also going to try to modify the design so this becomes a pullover. I'm going to need help with the lace edging--hopefully my mother can help and I can wear this on the Stitch and Beach cruise at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, I finally found the Melissa Leapman book in the piles and piles of papers I've accumulated and have cast on for Audrey, a cardigan with a meandering cable design that kind of gives you an hourglass shape. I'm knitting this in Rowan Cocoon--the color is Tundra which is a sort of milky brown. I'm about to start the meandering part of the cable and I hope it works out well because I love love love this yarn. It 80% merino and 20% kid mohair--I think I've knit with combinations like this before but the hand on this yarn is so soft and silky, it's luxurious. I'm sure I'll live in this sweater when it's ne--and it's knitting up quicky on size 10.5 needles.

I've been trying to find patterns to go with the rest of the yarn in my stash--I've got some Rowan DK cotton, Mondial Splendid, Evita and Rowan Wool Cotton (or Cotton Wool?) but seem not to have enough of it for a project for me. Well, I can always design something for myself, right?